


Blind Date

by charliewrites



Category: Lovely Little Losers, Nothing Much to Do
Genre: AU, Blind Date, Emotions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 22:10:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6395866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliewrites/pseuds/charliewrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Balthazar left Auckland to go to uni in Wellington without a word to any of the gang and now Paige wants to set him up on a blind date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blind Date

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I like the way this turned out but hey, it's here and it's done.

’I just got you a date!’ Paige burst into Balthazar’s room, dropping her bag at the foot of his bed and sitting down across from him. He’d been trying to work out a song that had been buzzing around his head for days so he had his notebook in front of him and his ukulele in his hands. 

‘No offence, but I’m not really interested in any dates you might have gotten me’ Balthazar said, setting his ukulele down on the bed. Ever since he’d broken up with Damien a little over two years ago, Paige had been adamant about Balthazar “getting out there again”.

‘Please! I admit my track record of finding you a boyfriend isn’t exactly great, but I think you’d really like this one!’ she pleaded, bouncing a little in her seat. 

‘What if I don’t want a boyfriend? What if I just want to stay single for the rest of my life? Have you thought of that?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows. She looked pointedly at him. ‘Ugh, I just don’t want to go on another date! It’s all awkward and weird! I hate small talk, you know that!’

‘Come on, Balthy! I’ll never ask you to go on a blind date ever again if you just give this guy a chance’ Paige said, batting her eyes at him. 

Balthazar groaned. ‘Alright, but this really is the last time!’

‘Yay!’ Paige exclaimed, bouncing again. She was really starting to pick up some of Chelsey’s mannerisms. ‘So his name is Peter, he’s a bartender, and he’s in one of Chelsey’s theatre classes. He’s really charming. Don’t worry about anything, I’ll take care of the reservations; all you have to do is show up!’

Balthazar couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s enthusiasm. Who knew? Maybe going on this date would be a good thing? 

-

Balthazar arrived at the restaurant that Paige had reserved a table at five minutes before the appointed time. He liked to be the first to arrive, and arriving on time always made a good first impression. 

‘Reservations for Moth?’ he said to the waitress who greeted him. He recognized her from all the other times he’d eaten there. This was always the place Paige made reservations at when she set him up. 

‘Haven’t seen you here in a while. Did the last date go really well?’ she asked, winking at him. 

‘Nah, Paige just haven’t set me up in a while’ he replied with a shy smile. 

‘Well, your date for tonight’s already here. He’s quite the looker’ she said as she started showing him to the table. She indicated to a table for two where a guy was already sitting with his back to them and mouthed ‘Good luck’ at him. He rolled his eyes at her but smiled as he made his way to the table.

Balthazar’s stomach dropped and the wind was knocked out of him when he saw who it was. 

‘Pedro?’ he asked. He was standing by the table, having not actually looked at the guy until he was too close to turn around if he’d wanted to. And he really wanted to. 

‘Balthazar’ Pedro said when he looked up. His expression no doubt mirrored Balthazar’s. Disbelief, shock, hurt and a pinch of affection. 

Balthazar was tongue tied. It was all he could do not to just leave the restaurant. He focused on his breathing. He couldn’t look away from Pedro. He hadn’t changed much. His hair was a little shorter but still gorgeous. His eyes were still ones that Balthazar could get lost in. He’d definitely written a song about those eyes. His clothing style had improved. He was wearing a blue button down which definitely suited him. 

Pedro cleared his throat and stood up, looking like he wasn’t sure whether to hug him or shake his hand. He seemed to settle on a smile and indicated for Balthazar to sit down, so he did.

‘How’ve you been, Balth?’ Pedro asked, no doubt trying to ignore the awkwardness away.

Balthazar finally pulled his eyes from Pedro’s face and looked down at his unopened menu on the table. ‘Yeah, good’ he managed to say. 

‘Good, good’ Pedro mumbled, seemingly more to himself than to Balth. 

There was a moment where neither of them spoke before the situation properly dawned on Balthazar and he started to laugh. Once he’d started, he couldn’t seem to stop. 

‘What’s so funny?’ Pedro asked with a frown on his face. 

‘Nothing… Just…’ Balthazar gasped between laughs. ‘This whole…’ he gestured between them. ‘It’s ridiculous’

‘Wow’ Pedro said, sounding hurt. ‘Thanks’

He got up and straightened his shirt. Balthazar stopped laughing at that. 

‘Wait, Pedro, you don’t have to leave’ he said, standing as well. 

‘I’d rather not go through with a date with someone who finds the idea ridiculous. It was nice seeing you again’ Pedro said and with that, he left. 

Balthazar stood there, stunned for a second as he processed what had just happened. He had just had the opportunity to have an actual date with Pedro Donaldson, the boy he’d loved since they were children, and he’d blown it. 

-

‘You’re home early. Did the date not go well?’ Paige asked as Balthazar flopped down on the sofa and covered his face with a throw pillow. Her and Chelsey had been watching a movie and were cuddled up on the other sofa. 

‘You set me up with Pedro Donaldson’ his voice was muffled from the pillow. 

‘What? No, his name was Peter, right Chels?’ Paige asked her girlfriend who nodded. 

‘Yeah, Peter’s his real name. We called him Pedro in high school’ Balthazar’s muffled voice was full of exasperation. 

‘Oh’ said Paige as she finally understood. ‘Wait, he’s the guy you pined for back in Auckland?’

The pillow moved with his head as Balthazar nodded. 

‘Okay, I can understand that now. But wait, then why are you back so early?’ Paige asked, making eye contact with Chelsey who was getting ready to go get the tub of ice cream from their freezer. 

Balthazar removed the pillow from his face, eyes fixed on the ceiling. ‘I blew it’

‘How?’ Chelsey asked. 

‘I laughed. In his face.’

Chelsey got up and moved to the kitchen. Paige moved Balthazar’s feet and sat down on the sofa with him. 

‘Start from the beginning’ she said. 

-  
   
It was a week later when Balthazar was leaving a lecture that he saw him again. Pedro was walking in deep conversation with a girl who was rolling her eyes at him. Balthazar saw his chance. It was now or never. 

‘Pedro!’ he called and jogged over to him. He saw Pedro wince. 

‘Okay, that’s not my name anymore! My name’s Peter!’ he said and turned around to face Balthazar. 

‘Sorry’ Balthazar said, looking down. ‘Old habits’

‘It’s fine’ Pedro… no, Peter said a smidge softer, but only a smidge. 

‘I just wanted to apologise for the way I acted last time. It wasn’t that I thought the idea of us on a date was ridiculous, it was just…’ Balthazar said and chewed on his lower lip, trying to find the right words before sighing. ‘Do you want to grab a coffee?’

‘I’m actually on my way to a lecture right now’ Peter said, pointing vaguely over his shoulder. 

‘Oh, right, sorry’ Balthazar said, his heart sinking a little. He was just turning around to leave when Peter spoke again. 

‘I’ll be done in an hour if you’re free then?’ 

Balthazar turned to him with a grin. ‘Yeah, that sounds great. Do you know Boyets?’

‘Sure. See ya, Balthy’ Peter said with one of those smiles that took Balthazar back to his days of Messina High. 

-

Determined to make the hour go by as fast as possible, Balthazar decided to go study at Boyets while he waited. 

His heart was beating fast at the thought of actually getting to talk properly to Peter again. This could go really badly or really well and he wasn’t banking on the latter. 

Still. This was Peter Donaldson. He felt lightheaded and couldn’t concentrate very well on the words in his music comp book. 

‘Waiting for someone?’ asked Kit as he was setting down a coffee in front of Balthazar. ‘Must be quite a guy’

Balthazar felt his face grow hot. Kit laughed and sat down. 

‘Tell me about him’ he said. ‘I have ten minutes before my break’s up’

‘He’s just an old friend’ Balthazar said, trying to be as nonchalant about it as possible.

It wasn’t technically a lie. He and Pedro had never been anything but friends; it had all been purely platonic between them. Who was to say that him and Peter would be any different? Just because they’d met on a blind date? That was not at all proof that Peter might have anything but platonic feelings toward him. 

And maybe Balthazar no longer had romantic feelings for Peter. Maybe he’d gotten over him in the three years they hadn’t talked to each other. 

‘Right, just an old friend’ Kit sounded less than convinced. 

Balthazar buried his nose in his book and Kit took the hint, leaving him to his studies. 

He couldn’t help but look up at the clock on the wall every two minutes, though, and he was not registering any of the words he was reading. Instead he was thinking about how he was going to – convincingly – explain to Peter that he hadn’t been so much laughing at Peter himself but more the irony of the situation. He wanted Peter to understand that but at the same time, he didn’t want to spill his guts. 

Frustrated, he sighed and closed his book. There was no way he was kidding himself into being productive. 

‘Uni work?’

Balthazar jumped at the sound of Peter’s voice. He hadn’t noticed him come in but there he was, standing in front of him. He was wearing that navy sweater that he’d been wearing that one night when Balthazar had thought something would happen. Nothing had, though. 

‘Yeah. Having a bit of an off day, I guess’ Balthazar replied, packing his away his book. 

‘I know the feeling. Wanna go for a walk?’ Peter asked and Balthazar nodded, taking a deep breath as he got up and followed Peter out. 

They walked in silence for a bit. He’d forgotten how comfortable the silences with Peter were. They ended up on a bench in the park, overlooking a lake. 

‘I’m sorry for laughing. I promise it wasn’t at you; it was more the whole situation’ Balthazar said, fiddling with his sleeve. 

‘It’s alright’ Peter said, staring straight ahead. ‘So I’m assuming you and Damien didn’t last?’

‘Why would you say that?’ Balthazar joked. ‘We could be in an open relationship’

‘Sure, but I know you. You can’t have changed that much’ Peter said with a slight smile. Balthazar couldn’t repress a small smile of his own. 

‘Yeah, nah, we lasted about a year but then he met someone else. Turns out he wasn’t good at long distance’ Balthazar said with a shrug. 

‘I’m sorry to hear that’ 

‘Nah, it’s fine’ Balthazar said, wanting Peter to understand that it hadn’t been painful at all. ‘By the end of it we were only really together because neither of us bothered to break it off.’

Balthazar looked out at the lake. There was a moment of silence before Balthazar bumped his shoulder against Peter’s. 

‘So you’re going on dates with guys now, huh?’

‘Yeah’ Peter looked down at his hands with a ghost of a smile on his lips. ‘I came out in my first year here. I’d known for a while, though’

‘Yeah, I know’ Balthazar said, fighting a smile. He’d been the first person Peter had come out to back in year 12. ‘How did your family take the news?’

‘Dad was a bit weird about it at first but he’s getting better. John’s been surprisingly supportive’ Peter said, laughing a bit at the last part. 

‘That… that _is_ surprising. How’s he doing, by the way?’ Last time Balthazar had seen John he’d been in a dark place but had been taking the first steps toward getting better. 

‘John? Oh, he’s much better! We’ve actually become pretty close in the past few years. He’s staring uni in Auckland in the fall’ Peter said, pride beaming off him. It was nice to know that the Donaldson brothers were doing better. ‘How’s your music thing going?’

‘Well, I think. I actually have a gig on Friday’ Balthazar told him, excited by the thought of playing live again. 

‘Oh man, I haven’t seen you play in ages!’ Peter said and looked up at the sky. 

‘It’s open to the public so you can come if you want’ Balthazar said, buzzing a but at the thought of seeing Peter’s face in the crowd again. ‘It’s on campus’

Another moment of comfortable silence descended upon them. Balthazar listened to the sound of Peter’s steady breath, not even trying to deny anymore how thrilling it was to be sitting here with him after three years. 

‘Balth?’ Peter broke the silence, sounding nervous. 

‘Mhm?’ Balthazar responded, turning his head to look at Peter. He was frowning down at his hands. 

‘Why did you leave?’

Balthazar felt his heart drop to his stomach. He’d really hoped they’d skim over, if not avoid, that part. 

‘University, man!’ he responded, hoping that would be a sufficient answer. 

‘Yeah, but you just vanished. Like, everything was cool and then around Christmas you just disappeared and we didn’t hear from you after that. Why?’ Peter was looking at him now, eyes filled with hurt. 

‘We went to spend Christmas and New Years at JoJo’s before going to our family reunion in January. And then there wasn’t time for anything other than packing before I went down here when we got back’ he explained, shifting uncomfortably in his seat and fiddling with his sleeve. 

‘Okay’ Peter said, taking in the information. ‘That doesn’t explain why you didn’t respond to our calls or messages, though’

Balthazar rubbed the ridge of his eye, chewing on his lower lip, looking anywhere but Peter. After realising that Peter wasn’t going to say anything until he got an answer, Balthazar decided to try and distract him. 

‘How are Bea and Ben, actually? I haven’t heard from them in ages’ he said casually, trying to slow his heart rate. 

‘Nice try, they’re confused about what happened too. Why did you stop talking to everyone back in Auckland?’ Peter asked, being annoyingly stubborn. 

‘I still talk to Ursula and Hero sometimes’ Balthazar mumbled, pulling his sleeves over his hands, focusing on them. 

‘So did Bea and Ben do something to make you angry? Like, I get that you might not want to be around me after the whole Hero thing, but I don’t understand why Ben and Bea didn’t hear from you’ Peter said. There was a mix of confusion, hurt and anger in his voice. Fuck. 

Balthazar took a deep breath. He was going to do it. He steeled himself. 

‘I needed to get over you’ he whispered, eyes fixed on his sleeve covered hands. ‘You were never going to love me like I loved you so I had to get away from you, properly. Ben was just going to try and push us together and I wasn’t going to ask Bea to keep a secret from him, so I had to let them go as well’

He was blinking away tears at this point. The thought of hurting Ben and Beatrice was painful.

‘So what you’re saying’ Peter said, his voice quiet and almost devoid of emotion. ‘is that it’s my fault’

Balthazar frowned and looked up at him. 

‘Didn’t you hear what I said? It was completely my own fault. Me and my stupid feelings!’ He hid his face in his hands and sighed deeply. ‘I just needed a fresh new start so that I could move on from you.’

There was another silence where Balthazar gathered his thoughts, processing what he’d just admitted. Well, the plan about not spilling his guts had failed miserably. When he removed his hands from his face and looked to see if Peter was still there, Peter was looking at him with an intense look in his eyes, biting his bottom lip.

‘So…’ Peter started, putting an arm on the backrest of the bench, inching ever so slightly closer. ‘Did it work?’

Balthazar’s pulse was racing. He couldn’t look away from Peter’s lips. ‘Did what work?’ he whispered. 

‘Your plan to get over me’ Peter was still inching closer. He was speaking softly. Their lips were almost touching. 

‘I thought so, but…’ Balthazar breathed, feeling the warmth radiating off of Peter’s skin. It was intoxicating. ‘But…’ he breathed before giving in and pressing his lips against Peter’s.

The kiss was intense. Years of repressed emotions rushed through him and into it. He was trembling. His fingers curled around the fabric of that damn navy blue sweater that made him look so damn good. He brought his other hand up to Peter’s neck. 

Peter was giving back as much as he was getting, a hand against Balthazar’s back, pressing him closer, and the other threading through Balthazar’s hair. 

It was a desperate kiss and when he broke away, Balthazar immediately pulled Peter in for a hug, trying to mask the fact that he was crying a little bit; he was overwhelmed with emotion. 

They sat there for a few minutes with their arms around each other. 

‘If you promise not to laugh this time’ Peter said softly, still hugging Balthazar. ‘Can I buy you dinner sometime?’

‘Yeah’ Balthazar croaked, muffled by Peter’s sweater. ‘I’d like that’

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed that. I had kinda planned to write more but I figured I'd make the kiss the climax of the story. Maybe I'll write a continuation some day but I'm not making any promises.


End file.
